Ovarian and Uterine Cycles

Ovarian Cycle is the process where the eggs mature and travel through the oviduct down to the uterus.
Uterine Cycle is the growth of the lining which prepares for an embryo to implant itself.

• Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) triggers the release of hormones in the ovarian cycle. GnRH gets released from the hypothalamus and has a target sit in the anterior pituitary which happens to be where LH and FSH get triggered.
• Follicle-Stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing hormone (LH) have the responsibility of stimulating the eggs to develop and to get ovaries to release estrogen and Progesterone.
• Estrogen and Progesterone are responsible for stimulating the maturity of the lining in the uterus.
• Human Chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) only comes to play once an individual is pregnant. This has the responsibility to act like LH and trigger the release of progesterone and estrogen. However LH and FSH are not hormones used during Pregnancy.

A positive loop is when a follicle bursts releasing a mature egg in the ovaries. Since the egg was released greater levels of hormones are needed to ensure the egg could develop into a fetus if fertilized. If the egg doesn't get fertilized the hormone levels go back down. A negative loop is seen when the GnRH becomes greater due to excessive amounts of other hormones in her system such nocentrations are not needed to control hormone levels, when there is enough in the body.

First Trimester:
the zygote begins to divide into millions of cells. The next step is an embryo and then a fetus. When it is a fetus it begins to release hormones, grow little hairs, glands and organs are in their first stages of development.

Second Trimester:
The fetus is more life size and its lungs and brain starts to develop.

Third Trimester:
Everything is finished growing and the baby is ready to be born and come into the real world.

immune system

Macrophage: a large whit blood cell that consumes foreign invaders. Helps to destroy bacteria and tumor cells.

Antigen: any type of foreign substance that enters the body.

Helper T Cell: White blood cells which release cytokines that activate B and killer T cells.

B Cell: In the Pressence of antigens lymphocyte turns into plasmas and release antibodies to help fight.

Antibody: Proteins that binds to an antigen, which neutralizes it.

Killer Cell: Destroy the antigens that have been discovered by antibodies.

Cytotoxic T Cell: A type of T cell which kills cells that have come incontact (infected) with viruses.

Memory Cell: Long living lymphocyte that has previously encountered an antigen.


Immune Disorders
Leukopenia: a decrease in white blood cells (leukocytes) found in the blood, which leaves the person at an increased rate of infection.

Hypersensitivity: undesirable/damaging/ discomforting reaction produced by the immune system. Hypersensitivity reactions need a pre-sensitized (immune) state of the host.

Aging

HDL is a form of good cholesterol. HDL helps to clean out your blood vessels of the bad cholesterol (LDL). This is easily related to genetics because of the age variation among families; the reason why some live longer than others could be because of this.



Sirtuins is known as a family of genes, and the more copies you have of this it is likely you will live longer. This particular gene is part of a stress response (helps the DNA repair cells and stop them from dying). A chemical: Resveratrol delays aging by stimulating sirtuins.



Telomeres
length of telomeres (strtches of DNA at the end of chromosomes) relates to our biological age. People think that this length is genetic. The shorter the telomere the faster you age.



Lifestyle
less than 50% of aging has been linked to gentics. Your actions play a role in life for example if you exercise, abuse drugs, eat healthy, etc.



Nova Staff. (2007, January 9). Aging. Retrieved May 9, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/01.html

Healthy Old Age.

Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/01-agin-flash.html.

Moise, Katie. (2010, February 8). Researchers Identify Genetic Variant Linked to Faster Biological Aging. Retrieved May 9, 2010 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=aging-telomere

Stress

Stress seems to be something that is unavoidable in todays world. Stressors in my life are: trouble seeking a job, family problems, homework, and car accident, money. Since I've turned in my papers and projects my stress level goes down. However when I get a new assignment it goes right back up. I was also in a car accident late tuesday night so that is causing a lot of stress on me as well as a lot of pain. Some of the ways that stress affects the body is: ulcers, back pain, neck pain, upset stomach, diarrhea, teeth grinding, poor sleeping habbits, depressed, anxious, irritable, hostile, migranes, drug and alcohol abuse. These are only a few of the ways your body can be affected, there are many more (physically and emotionally).

Managing/reducing stress:

• avoiding triggers
• sharing feelings, and thoughts is a good way to get it out in the open
• I like to listen to music or write it down
• prioritize
• exercise
• reward yourself
• eat and sleep well
  

Exercise Physiologist

Physiologist are very helpful to athletes because they are measuring the amount of oxygen the athlete is using in a specific exercise. They also measure how hard the athlete is working on any specific task and as a result they crate special training programs to better the athlete's performance.

Energy Pathways:
ATP: this is the most basic type of energy inside the body, before any work is done you will find that small amounts of ATP is kept in the muscles. When the muscle is suppossed to contract ATP breaks down which activates the sliding filaments and allows a contraction to occur. Since ATP is now broken down it forms ADP and when this is paired with CP then more ATP is created.

The anaerobic pathway provides energy for longer periods of time. Once all of the CP has been used this pathway is accessed. In this case glucose is needed in order to form more ATP.

Aerobic Metabolism is used in endurance events. ATP is produced when the body's transport of oxygen to the muscles which generates more ATP from sugars and fats.

Terms:

• VO2 Max: The maximum amount of oxygen a person can breathe in for use, while exercising.
• Lactic Acid: The product of glycolysis resulting in fatigue.
• Aerobic Respiration: Energy pathway where ATP is produced by oxygen being transported to the muscles creating more ATP from sugars and fats, is analyzed by an exercise physiologist designing training activities to enhance necessary energy pathways.
• Anaerobic Respiration: This energy pathway taps into glucose to generate more ATP
• ATP/CP: Are 2 pathways which work together when ATP is broken down forming ADP. ADP gets paired with CP to create more ATP.
• Glycolysis: it is very important for an athlete to understand this because glucose is directly used to create more ATP. This helps athletes understand lactate threshold.
• Carbohydrates: very important energy source for an athlete because ATP and CP rely on glucose to replenish energy
• Fats: Also used to replenish energy reserves; they are tapped into second. A physioloogist and athlete work together to maintain a diet of roughly 30% fat needed.
• Proteins: not used for energy replenishment, however is essential for the build up of muscle, and compromise about 15% of an athletes diet.

Step Test:
This is a cardiovascular test designed to measure endurance. You are supposed to step up and down on a step for a total of 3 straight minutes while recording their heart rate. The lower your heart rate is after the test, the healthier you are.

History/Challenges of Heart Surgeries:
Heart surgery became a necessity around the time of World War II in order to save people's lives. Many soldiers who fought in World War II had bullets in their heart and couldn't survive unless they were taken out. So the work on animals hearts began, when the success rate increased with the animals that is when they moved on to the human soldiers. In 1952 they lowered the body temperature of the patient and this was the first open heart surgery that was ever performed. However this still needed perfecting because there were only 10 minutes before the patient would die on the table. The bypass machine was perfected in 1958 allowing more invasive procedures to be done and they were also more successful.

The EKG is used to measure the electrical waves in the heart.

Atherosclerosis: if you see yellow lipid like streaks on the heart
It is also good to check the abdoment because sometimes aneurysms rupture

Coronory Bypass is performed when there is blockage in an artery.
A heart transplant is performed when the whole organ is damaged and therefore needs to be replaced.


Patient is a 63 year old male
Family history includes diabetes
The patient is overweight and expieriences chest pain with any type of exerciwse/ movement
His blood Pressure is 164/92
The Angiography shows there is arterial blockage
EKG indicates minimal strength of electrical signals.

I would diagnose him with angioplasty.
It is suggested that he makes lifestyle changes immedietly in order to enjoy life.

Artificial Organs

The first step is to make the mold. Then they take the stem cells from the organ they are trying to grow. When cells are isolated they start to grow in the form of the mold. And by the end only the organ is left because the mold had deteriated. From this point the organ can be transplanted.

Cons:

• unethical issurs
• may take more time than the patient has (about 6-8 weeks)
• expensive

Pros:

• Patient will most likely live longer/ or a better life
• Patient can be free of disease
• Can help burn victims
• lowers the number of peole dying on the transplant list
• help 100,000 people waiting for organs

Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cells come from the embryo. When the embryo begins to grow the cell starts to specialize. These cells can be transformed into specialized cells to be used in the body.

Induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have lots of potential since they can specialize like the embryonic cells. Since these cells come directly from the patient the chance that the cells will be rejected is not present. The downfall is that these cells have a potential to create tumors.

Adult stem cells/Somatic stem cells primary role is to repair and maintain the tissue in a living organism. These cells can be found in many organs and tissues in the adult body such as; brain, bone marrow, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, teeth, skin, heart and many more. These cells only divide when there is a need for more cells to maintain tissues, disease, or tissue injury. The problem with these is that their capability of division is limited, therefore large quantities of adult stem cells are difficult.

Specialization is when the scientists trick the stem cells to turn into what they want. The scientists grow them in petri dishes to create many colonies. Then with the use of growth factors the scientists differentiate the cells into specific tissues that their trying to make.

Transplants are always needed yet there is never enough to go around. So it would be great if we could use stem cells to help the organs in need. Stem cells have the posibility to treat/cure diseases like leukemia, cancer, can make skin grafts, healing of tendon and ligament damage in horses legs, diabetes, strokes, alzheimers, parkinson's, muscle repairs, and possibly even spinal cord injuries.

First a sperm has to fuze with an egg, in order to become fertilized. Sometimes the sperm has a difficult time getting through the egg's shell so the sperm goes through acrosome reaction. In this process a reaction occurs in acrosome (cap-like structure) of the sperm as it begins to approach the egg. The surrounding membrane of the acrosome fuses with the plasma membrane of the sperm which exposes what is inside the acrosome; such as enzymes that break down the shell and allow fertilization.

A cortical reaction is when a sperm cell unites with an egg's plasma membrane. This ensures that no other sperm can fertilize this particular egg.

Cleavage begins in a zygote cell. The zygote cell goes under a series of rapid mitotic divisions. There is no growth however there is DNA synthesis. Cleavage is complete with the formation of a blastula (a hallow ball of cells with a liquid cavity).

Gastrulation is when the blastula gets transformed into a gastrula containing 3 layers of cells. The ectoderm is the outermost layer, forming skin, hair, nerves, and sweat glands. The mesoderm is the middle layer which helps form things associated with movement and support, such as muscles, organs, bone and cartilage. The endoderm is the innermost layer which helps create inner lining, tissues, organs of the digestive system. The archenteron is a new cavity located inside the endoderm.

Organogenesis occurs right after gastrulation, it is a process by which the 3 layers develop into organs.